Cambodia

We traveled to Cambodia this week and met with Elder and Sister Dowd.  They will be returning home at the end of the month and their replacements, the Smiths, will not be arriving until mid-April. We have been asked if we can help, “bridge the gap” by supporting the Director of Public Affairs and the National Council of Cambodia during the absence of a Senior Missionary Couple being there. Very similar to what we did a few months ago with Sister Carol Ng in Malaysia.

It was close to a three-hour flight from Hong Kong to Phnom Penn and another hour or so getting through immigration because we had to get a Visa there at the airport. After collecting our baggage, we quickly found the shuttle driver sent by the hotel. We then experienced another hour of moving very slowly through narrow and congested streets to the hotel. After settling in we called the Dowds who picked us up, took us out to eat, and then to their apartment. We visited there for a while before they took us back to our hotel, “The Luminer”, where we then enjoyed a well deserved good night of sleep!

The Dowds introduced us to Sister Theany, the Director, with the rest of the Council the second night of our visit at a dinner organized for all of us to meet each other. It was a wonderful evening and a great opportunity for us to get to know the members who serve in Cambodia in Public Affairs. The dinner also served as the end-of-a Mission thank you event for Elder and Sister Dowd.  It was well deserved and a great blessing for us to witness the love that has developed between the Dowd’s and the Cambodian delegation attending the dinner.

Earlier that day we met Brother Lee who owns a tuk-tuk and makes a living moving people around in the City. He took us out to the “Killing Fields” and “S-21”. It was a very sobering experience and an introduction to unimaginable atrocities. Three million Cambodians of a total population of eight million killed by fellow Cambodians and an evil leader. Visiting these sights is probably an experience that would  be good for everyone to do once, but I know Karen and I hope never to do again.

The next evening, we met with Theany  and Vannak reviewing and teaching them how to use Corus, Newsroom, and the Public Affairs Network. They were great and were able to learn how to use the software in about one-tenth the time it took me. It will be fun working with them from Hong Kong for the next few months while there are no Senior Public Affairs Missionaries in Cambodia.

We had another chance before our meeting with Theany and Vannak for Brother Lee to spend some time motoring us around town in his tuk-tuk. Besides seeing all the back allies and markets of Phnom Penn he also found his way to the King’s Palace. We hired a woman tour guide to walk us through the royal complex including several royal buildings and gardens. 

Before we left Cambodia,  the Dowd's took us to the Service Center and to the Mission Home.  We were able to meet Elder and Sister Thurston who are serving a Humanitarian Mission,  and Elder and Sister Scott who serve as the Senior Missionary couple in the Mission Home.

Our Tuk Tuk driver,  Tree,  was wonderful.  He is a member of the Church,  and a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-79).   He serves on the District High Council.   He told me the most wonderful day of his life was when he took his 6 children (made possible through the Temple Patron fund),  to the Hong Kong Temple where they were sealed together in 2006.   

This little house is a very very nice house for Cambodia!  The people are so poor,  they are so humble,  and they are so happy.

Getting around in a Tuk Tuk was such a fun experience.  The Tuk Tuk is an icon for Cambodia.  It's a little cart pulled by a motorcycle.  There are hundreds of them everywhere.   There are also hundreds and hundreds of scooters.  In the city,  there are lots of cars that share the road with the Tuk Tuk's and the scooters.  It's an adventure.

Our ride a little way out of the city to see the "Killing Fields".   An experience that was very somber and we'll never forget.

It was fun to ride up next to the Elders.  Our driver Tree was honking and waving at them,  they were waving to him,  calling him by name,  it's obvious the missionaries and the members are very close.  The Church in Cambodia is very small,  having only been in the country for a short time.

Most definitely a third world country.  Electricity throughout the city at it's finest!